A Smart age for a smart phone

By Maria M., Marc C., and Raghav B.

We recently went onto the OSU campus, asked a much debated question, and got some pretty interesting answers. The question was, “At what age do you think a person should get a smartphone?” We asked a total of nine people, and the answers we got varied from the age of 13 to the age of 15.

Yash: High School

Mario: Age 13 to High School

Neda: 13 or 14

Brendan: 14

Ben: 15

Elnaz: Any age below 15

Katie: 13-14 (Middle School age)

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Shannon: 15

Richard: Elementary School

The average answer was about age 14, but some people could argue with that. For example, Shannon believed that if you do not have a GPA above 3.0, then you should get a smartphone at the age of 17. Also, Megan King, a student at Minnesota and our OTB chaperone, said that she mostly used her smartphone for researching questions and using maps to get directions and that most younger kids don't really have to do these things because they have parents to do them for them. But Marc Chenard, who is a fellow classmate, disagrees; he believes that kids in middle school should get a smartphone regardless of their grades and the way they use it. Marc believes that smartphones are good because it is a good way to interact with friends not just at school. Clearly, there are many different ways to look at this subject, and many people have different opinions on the topic.